One of the two jailed members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy
Riot was denied early release by a Russian court today, meaning she
will continue to serve out her two-year sentence for her participation
in her band’s “punk prayer” protest against President Vladimir Putin.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who along with Pussy Riot members Maria
Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich was convicted of “hooliganism”
charges back in August, has been in custody since March 2012. Her plea
for early release was permitted by Russian law since she has now served
half of her two-year sentence. She told the court in Zubova Polyana
today that the prison camp where she is serving her sentence – a place
the group has characterized on Twitter as the “harshest camps of all the possible choices” — did not support her request for release because she “didn’t repent,” according to the Associated Press.

Repenting isn’t necessary for early release, but in a deposition the
prison claimed Tolokonnikova was “insensitive to ethics.” In rejecting
the plea for early release, Judge Lidiya Yakovleva said that
Tolokonnikova had ‘‘not always followed the rules of behavior.”
According to the prison colony’s deposition, these infractions included
not saying hello to a prison official while she was hospitalized earlier
this year, and refusing to take a walk.